Imaginary

Summary: Everything has a consequence now Sam has to learn to live with hers. All Danny can do is hope it doesn't kill her.

Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. And I don't own Imaginary, Evanescence does.

Chapter Six

I lie inside myself for hours.

Danny had never been this scared in his life. He stood there completely frozen in place staring at Sam. She was his best friend since kindergarten. He had never gone through anything and same for her. They were like the other half of each other. Not in a romantic sense but they needed each other as much as any couple did. He couldn't imagine going through anything without her.

"Please," he said softly, but his voice cracked. "Please tell me your joking." The lavender-eyed girl stared back at him. She raised an eyebrow but it must have pulled a scab or a bruise because she whimpered. It broke his heart to watch her suffer like this. "Sam, you've got to remember something."

Her eye clouded over. It sort of creeped him out to think of Sam having one eye, but that's what it was like. "You seem like I know you. Like something from a dream. Not even that, a memory of a dream."

He smiled sadly, upset at the thought that she could forget him. "It'll come. Don't force it." She went silent and stared at the ceiling. Danny took a few steps back and leaned against the wall for support. He felt like he was going to collapse.

"Do you love me?" The question made Danny's eyes fly open. Sam was staring at him with an expectant look on her face.

Danny didn't know what to say. "What?"

"Do you love me?" She stressed every word as if she was talking to a two-year-old. "It's not that hard of a question." Well, he thought, at least her wit hasn't been affected.

Danny waited a minute before answering. He'd never really thought about it before. "Yes, I mean, you're my best friend, but not in the way you're thinking." Part of him whispered that it was a lie. He brutally repressed that thought.

"So it's not your baby," he tried to ignore the look on her face. But she looked so crestfallen that he knew he never would be able to forget it.

"You wanted it to be?" Danny could not believe that had just come out of his mouth. He wished he hadn't said it cause he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, no matter which it was.

Sam stared at him, she glanced down and said softly, "You seemed to care. You seemed like the type of guy who would stick with me through anything. Do you know who the dad is?"

Now there was a loaded question. No, and neither do you, he thought bitterly. It briefly crossed his mind what it would be if the baby was his like everyone thought. He wondered if Sam would still be this miserable. But it wasn't. The little voice whispered, but no one knows that.

Danny almost laughed at the sheer lunacy of the idea. Sam knew. Well, technically she didn't. But she would remember something some day would trigger it to come flooding back and she'd kill him. Literally. But someone else had to know…There was no way they could pull this off.

He looked at Sam staring blankly at the ceiling. God, he hated it when her face lost all emotion like that. It always sucked him right back to that playground and her laughing as she was about to pass out from blood loss. He would do anything to stop it.

"What if it was my baby?" he asked cautiously. His brain basically told him he was on his own and shut itself off.

She turned and looked at him strangely. "I thought you said it wasn't."

"Well, I mean, you never told me. But I can't think of who else's it would be." He tried to act fittingly nervous. It wasn't hard. What if she remembered? He wouldn't put it past Sam to jump out of bed and wring his neck here and now.

"Oh," she said softly. "It's your baby, but you don't love me."

"I do! It's just…" Yes, Danny, his brain taunted, get yourself out of this one. "We've been friends along time and we just didn't want to ruin it by doing something we'd regret."

"But we had sex? That makes tons of sense."

Danny shrugged. "We're like that sometimes." He grinned at her, at least that part wasn't a lie. Sam and him did lots of things that made no sense.

"Uh huh." She tried to suppress a yawn but failed.

Danny grinned at her and reached for ward and gently squeezed her fingers, mindful of the IV needle in her hand. "You're tired. I'll come see you tomorrow." She nodded her eye already drifting closed.

"Love you." He caught it despite how faint it came out.

"I love you, too." It seemed awkward yet natural at the same time. He tried not to think to deeply into it. Danny turned to go about to float up in the air when Sam called out to him softly. "Danny?"

He spun around. "Yeah?"

She smiled slightly. "I love your contacts."

A glance in the mirror reminded him quickly that he was still in ghost mode. He almost told her. But it had been a rough day for both of them and he just couldn't put her through another shock tonight. So despite his better judgement he threw one more lie out between them. "Thanks."

Bad Danny. He's going through a rather stupid phase. Not my fault I just tell it like it is. :P Way past my bed time. My parents are getting concerned. Thanks to my reviewers: Demon Vix Raven, Lady-Ashanya, Trevor the Enchanter, samanddanny, audi katia, Ryo's destiny, Spice Of Life, dannyandsambelongtogether, KittenGoMoo, Annie, HomicidalJungleCat, Weeble Wobble Chic, Akiko, The Good Girl, AngelicxDeath, CoLdPLaYeR813, Possesed Angel, Kagome51, autumngold, RavenForever, RainbowSerenity, Moody Maud, and Samster The Hamster. Love you all!